What We Read Today 29 April 2014

Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary “reading list” which will include very brief summaries of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for “reading list” items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included.

• Ukraine crisis: US extends sanctions on Russia (Geoff Dyer, Jack Farchy and Guy Chazan, Financial Times) The U.S. accused Russia of failing to live up to a diplomatic agreement reached in Geneva last week and imposed further sanctions on 7 government officials and 17 companies with links to close associates of Russian premier Vladimir Putin.

• Igor Sechin: Poster Boy for Sovokistan (Streetwise Professor) This blog says “Putinism is an economic dead end.” The oligarchy is composed of “huge, inefficient state companies run by Putin cronies who have no clue about economics or how to create value“.

But you’ll say: “Sechin has a PhD in economics!” Well, a PhD in economics from a Soviet university is best described as an advanced degree in idiocy.

[A Bloomberg Businessweek article] describes Sechin as having an encyclopedic knowledge of Communist Party congresses dating from before the Revolution. So yeah, that definitely comes in handy in maximizing the value of the largest oil reserves of any publicly traded oil company.

• PCIP deadline delayed again (Brian M. Kalish, Employee Benefit Advisor) The Pre-Existing Conditions Insurance Plan was originally set to expire on Dec. 31, 2013 and has been extended monthly since. The latest extension is to 30 June 2014. This is a program for sick Americans who were previously denied insurance coverage. The full ban on health insurance underwriting that started 01 January 2014 left some sick and uninsured Americans in limbo at the end of 2013.

• Heartbleed causes heartache for Healthcare.gov users (Melissa A. Winn, Employee Benefit Advisor) Even though there was no specific indication that Heartbleed posed a threat to the site, the federal government reset passwords for all Healthcare.gov. Heartbleed is an internet security bug that leaves personal information on some websites vulnerable to hackers. The author says that the resets have caused “frustration of many, including brokers and advisers“. The CMS (Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services) said the passwords were changes “out of an abundance of caution“.

• Five Shrines to Capitalism (Simon Constable, The Wall Street Journal) A short bucket list?

Today there are 12 articles discussed ‘behind the wall’.

The focus today is on articles about investing.

Please support all that we do at Global Economic Intersection with a subscription to our premium content ‘behind the wall’.

You get a full year for only $25.